Given the unprecedented circumstances in which the Sotheby’s Photographs sale took place last Friday, it’s hard to declare the results anything but a success. While Christie’s and Phillips opted to reschedule their spring photography auctions, Sotheby’s soldiered on, converting the sale into an online only affair. This led to the unsurprising withdrawal of 28 lots, but the rest of the consignors held on, and the sale proceeded.

With world economies and stock markets in a jumble, the sale managed to bring in nearly $3M in Total Sale Proceeds, which has to have been something of a victory. For those collectors willing to wade into the chaos, there were clearly some buying opportunities and relative bargains to be had. The overall Buy-In rate was a respectable for the moment 38%, the top lot Moholy-Nagy photogram found a buyer, and there were even a couple of positive surprises (including a lovely Christian Marclay unspooled cassette tape cyanotype). Sure, the Total Sale Proceeds missed the low end of the aggregate pre-sale estimate range by a decent margin, but kudos to Sotheby’s for working to keep the market even partially liquid and for having the courage to publish the results regardless of the outcome.

The summary statistics are below (all results include the buyer’s premium):

Summary Statistics

Total Lots

199

Aggregate Pre Sale Low Estimate

$3916500

Aggregate Pre Sale High Estimate

$5979500

Total Lots Sold

122

Total Lots Bought In

77

Buy In %

38.69%

Total Sale Proceeds

$2994875

Here is the breakdown (using our typical Low, Mid, and High definitions):

Detailed Breakdown

Low Total Lots

56

Total Low Lots Sold

37

Total Low Lots Bought In

19

Low Buy In %

33.93%

Aggregate High Estimate of Low Lots

$413500

Total Proceeds from Low Lots

$252500

Mid Total Lots

127

Total Mid Lots Sold

76

Total Mid Lots Bought In

51

Mid Buy In %

10.16%

Aggregate High Estimate of Mid Lots

$3286000

Total Proceeds from Mid Lots

$1440875

Total High Lots

16

Total High Lots Sold

9

Total High Lots Bought In

7

High Buy In %

43.75%

Aggregate High Estimate of High Lots

$2280000

Total Proceeds from High Lots

$1301500

The top lot by High estimate was lot 62, László Moholy-Nagy, Photogram cover for the magazine Broom, 1922, estimated at $400000-600000; it was also the top outcome of the sale at $524000 (image above, via Sotheby’s).

72.13% of the lots that sold had proceeds in or above the estimate range and there were a total of 2 positive surprises in the sale (defined as having proceeds of at least double the high estimate) (images above via Sotheby’s):